or obama care, as it's known. they want to defund it or delay it as part of any deal. we heard this from the speaker of the house, john boehner. >> obama care's driving up the cost of health care, it's destroying millions of american jobs. it is a train wreck. it would have to go. we've done everything humanly possible to make our point and we'll continue to make our point. >> either my way or the highway approach carried the day. in this case, the highway leads over a cliff to a shutdown or a default, either of which would be devastating for the economy. republican leadership has been dragged kicking and screaming into a fight that they know is bad for their party and bad for their country. and they should know, it's a fight they will not win. >> there's another fight brewing right now, a fight within the republican party itself. republican congressman tim griffin, for example, fired this shot over the bow of the senate republican counterparts, quote, so far, senate republicans are good at getting facebook likes

>> on obama care, there will be more people that the taxpayers are taking care of after obama care than before. >> here's the question. is it fair that -- >> taxpayers picking under the tab for -- >> is it fair that people. >> americans will pay more. >> is it fair that people who can afford to buy health insurance could become freeloaders and taxpayers will take care of them if they get into an emergency medical situation? is that fair. >> the fairness that is lacking in obama care is clear because president obama has changed obama care over 19 times now. he has an uneven playing field. so if you are a political favorite of the president's, you've just got an exemption. big business got a huge ex-emmion. >> are you happy there are people out there who have money who decide they don't want to buy health insurance but an that we'll take care of them no matter what? >> what you're talking about is a very small percentage of the american people. the world is every single. >> have you been to the emergency room? >> my oldest son is a physician. >> you know who shows up. these are people who

for obama care. if you're one of the 48 million uninsured americans, you've got some decisions to make, starting october 1st. the cost of coverage under the new health care exchanges vary depending where you lib, the level of coverage and other factors. on this map the average costs are higher in dark blue states. say you live in ohio for a family of four making $50,000 a year you pay $282 a month for the midrange plan after tax credits. a single person making $25,000 a year would pay $110 for the lowest cost plan, once again, after tax credits. president obama's touting the benefits of his health care reform law while taking on republicans who are threatening to defund it. at a speech in maryland at president said the affordable care act is here to stay. >> five days from now, five days from now, on october 1st, millions of americans who don't have health insurance because they've been priced out of the market or because they've denied access because of a preexisting condition, they will finally be

obama care is at heart of the shut down standoff. our next guest is a democrat who supports obama care, but says there's room to improve the plan. go down to democratic senator richard blumenthal. he joins me from connecticut. thank you for joining us. what would you do to change and improve obama care? >> one of the aspects of obama care that i think needs attention is its affects on businesses. increasing expenses at a time when they are recovering from the greatest recession in greatest history. there may be other areas that need improvement but the ways to address those issues are separately not to hold hostage the entire nation in effect trying to decimate a program that's been passed by congress, signed by the president, upheld by supreme court. a recent election me whe it was a central issue in the presidential race. and this kind of holding hostage is really in interest to the entire nation. kben, very bad to the economy, undercutting job growth and i think really calmer heads, common sense ought to prevail here. and hopefull

, anti-obama care provisions out. over the weekend the house sent back to the senate another spending bill reattaching new anti-obama care provisions, delaying it for a year rather than defund it and another provision that would repeal a tax on medical devices that helps fund the law. the senate already warned the house that they would reject that. the white house has said that they would veto, the president would veto that bill so that's where we stand today. the senate is going to come in this afternoon, strip those same anti-obama care provisions out once again and send it back over to the house so here we have this game of legislative hot potato with the time ticking down to midnight and it's not totally clear what the house is going to do. now, who is going to be to blame here? you saw at the beginning of the poll you showed a lot of people think the republicans and the democrats aren't acting like adults. who is to blame if there is a shuttown? latest poll shows 46% would blame republicans, 36% would blame the p

act known as obama care. with as paj of the partisan bill, house republicans took a victory lap while sending a direct message to the senate. >> today, we urge the senate to take action. we urge our colleagues in the senate, our allies on the outside and the american people to push the senate to have this important debate on the floor of the senate. because if we are going to take action on behalf of the american people, we need the senate to have this debate on the floor of the senate. >> why today when we acted it wasn't just a group of republicans but it was a bipartisan vote. let me state that again because i want to make sure you write it correctly. it was a bipartisan vote. because we're americans first. >> that's why we are doing our job and now it is up to senate democrats to show some responsibility and follow the house's lead. now -- you know, many senate republicans have promised to leave no stone h6 this billkand all of us here support that effort. >> you got businesses all over the country who ar

law, obama care. in just five days, the sign-up begins for the federal health care exchanges. the average american will have 53 different plans to choose from. i want to turn it over to my colleague now, anchor of cnn's "the situation room" wolf blitzer. hi, wolf. >> carol, thanks very much. the president as you point out only a few minutes away from his speech at prince georges community college in suburban maryland right outside of washington, d.c. he's expected to speak for about 25 minutes. he's got a lot on his agenda when it comes to explaining what obama care is all about. you are going to hear the president. joining us as we wait for the president, our senior white house correspondent, jim acosta, chief political analyst, gloria borger and christine romans. our coverage of what the president is about to do will resume after a quick break. could save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance. everybody knows that. well, did you know that when a tree falls in the forest and no one's around, i

do with caring about people, you know, obama care. basically, it's all i know. >> reporter: according to the kaiser family foundation, a lot of americans don't know about it. >> who created the affordable health care plan. >> it was approved by congress, the affordable care. >> i'm wondering as a citizen of america, how come i did not hear about this. >> reporter: it's a contention in congress, many people we spoke to were hearing details for the first time this week. >> i'm definitely going to read into it. >> is obama forcing americans to get insurance? it sounds that way. >> reporter: a group funded by insurance companies, health care groups is working to spread the word. dispatching field workers in ten states. >> we can follow up with you. >> reporter: 48 million uninsured americans will be able to get insurance through federal and state exchanges. they must enroll before march 31st. >> they can shop like you shop for an airline ticket or a flat screen tv and see what's the best price for you. >> this is all new to me. i never kn

devices that would help fund obama care. any house gop plan faces almost certain death in the senate. senate democratic leader harry reid has said any bill that would change obama care is absolutely unacceptable. we have got this story covered from every angle. we have complete coverage for you on this shutdown struggle. chief congressional correspondent dana bash is in washington. our senior white house correspondent jim acosta is in washington. our chief political analyst gloria borger is in washington as well. we've got you covered here. dana, we'll talk to you first. so, we expect this to pass the house tonight, but the big question is, what will the senate do and when? what are your sources telling you about this? >> the senate majority leader harry reid released a statement just a couple hours ago saying that he is confident the senate will reject what the house does and i'm told by a senior democratic leadership source they'll not come back to take it up to reject it until monday. they're not scheduled to come back un

the issue of obama care is over. it was resolved in the last presidential election when the president was re-elected and said that he was going to continue with it. >> there's so much potential for bipartisan efforts to advance this legislation in the senate. but senator reid needs to bring up the proposal and adopt an attitude that is broader than our way or the highway. there's time left for us to work together. the senate needs to hustle. >> the republicans want the administration to believe that they now want only a delay. well, why don't they state that forthrightly and say they are now for the affordable health care act but they want to delay it because of certain issues and bring them forward? >> i'll show you some interesting numbers right now. september 20th, the house passed its spending bill with no funding for obama care. that vote was 230-189. pretty much a straight party vote with two democrats, one republican switching sides. early sunday morning, the house voted again. it was almost identical, 2230, 1

care for a year and a repeal of a medical device tax that does help pay for obama care. what does that mean? the ball is back in the house's court. house republicans are meeting, brooke, as we speak to map out their next move. i am told that the plan was for them to try one more time. certainly, lots of conservatives in their caucus want them to keep fighting, despite it being pretty obvious that they're up against all odds, and the leading option for that next fight would be to have a spending bill that delays the individual mandate in obama care for a year. but as you and i talked about earlier in the hour, there are house republicans who were talking only privately about this before but are now coming out publicly as the clock ticks toward midnight saying enough already. let's wave the red flag. we made our point, not once, not twice, it's not going to happen. the math simply is not there, let's move on. i'm told unless something dramatic happens as we have seen, thing kz change on a dime, the plan is not to do that, to have one more crack at this and so that will --

with obama care. this is like the ridiculous part of this. is that there is a lot of agreement going on but there is an entrenchment by both parties to refuse to negotiate. >> i think with good reason though. plenty of time and room to negotiate changes in obama care. if president obama were to allow the government -- allow extortion to take place, negotiate over the threat of a government shut down or over the threat of not raising the debt ceiling, that would weaken not just his presidency but the government for generations. one of the -- to anna's point, one of the most important issue says in dealing with the budget. the house and senate haven't appointed a conference committee to meet with the democrats to convene how to plan negotiating for the budget. there are important issues to negotia negotiate. we can't allow brinksmanship. we can't allow the issue of a government shut down to be used as strategy to threaten the government for that matter. >> here is the reality. right? there's probably go

explaining obama care next. but tracking all the action and hearing everything from our marketing partners, the media and millions of fans on social media can be a challenge. that's why we partnered with hp to build the new nascar fan and media engagement center. hp's technology helps us turn millions of tweets, posts and stories into real-time business insights that help nascar win with our fans. [ male announcer ] some things are designed to draw crowds. others are designed to leave them behind. ♪ the all-new 2014 lexus is. it's your move. to severe plaque psoriasis... the frustration... covering up. so i talked with my doctor. he prescribed enbrel. enbrel is clinically proven to provide clearer skin. many people saw 75% clearance in 3 months. and enbrel helped keep skin clearer at 6 months. [ male announcer ] enbrel may lower your ability to fight infections. serious, sometimes fatal, events including infections, tuberculosis, lymphoma, other cancers, nervous system and blood disorders, and allergic reactio

the obama care is the law of the land. and, in essence, he was signaling it was time to move on and the republicans had any time of approving this, i believe deep down he fundamentally believes that. >> last week, he saw the extraordinary senator ted cruz that the speaker extense ichly wanted the kau cucaucus to foll. >> so you look at what's been happening the last time. republica republicans, they got blamed. do they not get it that a shutdown might not be a good idea? or is it that they hate the president's health care law that much that they don't care about shutting down the government. >> well, there's a viert of things. sfir first of all, the last shutdown was, in political terms, ionsa ago, there's no question there was a turning point in the presidency of bill clinton. he went ahead of him during the shutdown and never trailed again. but the republicans did not lose the house, even though they lost seats. there's a certain inexstrablety towards is this. they've within heading well over as the republicans won the h

they don't want obama care to go forward. and the question is, it's not going to pass the current legislation in the senate. will those republicans in the house of representatives be willing to see the government shut down in order to try to defund obama care. it's a matter of principle to a lot of those conservative republicans, tea party supporters and others, because they hate it so much, they think it's a disaster for the country and they want to make this powerful statement. the problem they have, and even a republican political analyst like karl rove, the so-called architect of the bush years, he wrote a piece in the "wall street journal" saying this is disaster for the republicans if they go ahead and they link obama care to a government shutdown. it would just be politically a nightmare for them in the midterm elections next time. just as it caused the republicans so many problems, the two government shutdowns in '95 and '96 during the clinton administration, it helped propel bill clinton to get re-elected in '96 desp

>> are they worriedabout obama care? >> the democrats understand that obama care is not going to be repealed. what they're doing is standing back now and they're pointing neon arrows, neon fingers at the republicans and saying look at these guys. they don't know what they're doing. they can't agree on what they want to do. and by the way, all of you independent voters out there who don't want to shut down the government, take a look at this. because they understand that the american public doesn't want to shut down the government. they understand the repercussions of shutting down the government, particularly politically for the republicans. they're sitting back and saying, okay, watch them make a mess of it. at a certain point, we're all going to have to rescue ourselves from this chaos that's been created. >> okay. hope you're not pulling too much of your hair out because this is just beginning here, gloria. >> we have another week to go. >> yes, we do. thank you. >>> and we have talked before about this competition am

several very large companies are cutting some health care benefits, and they have cited obama care as the reason. u.p.s., delta, and the university of virginia, for example. by cuts, i mean things like, if you are covered by your company and your spouse is covered by your company's insurance but he or she could be covered by insurance at his or her own office, your employer might say, okay, that's how it has to be. your spouse is now out of our system. the problem with this claim is that other factors are also raising health care costs rapidly, so many companies have been doing this sort of thing anyway as they have tried to bring down health care costs. obama care is almost certainly an undeniably speeding up that process. so it's fair for companies to say it is a cause, but in most cases, it does not seem to be the only cause for this trend, brooke. we'll be going through a lot more of these fact checks through the next few days and clearing up a lot of these puzzling questions. >> we'll be looking forward to it. ready for that on monday. >>> meantime, high school coaches could coac

obama's affordable care act. the president says he won't negotiate. the last federal government shutdown started in 19 9d 5, well before obama care and the tea party. >>> he has to try to make a phony argument about problems that aren't real. >> federal offices and national parks closed. >> that just really makes us mad. real mad. >> reporter: the government shut down again in december. that shutdown lasted 21 days. the final cost? $1.4 billion. senator john mccain warns the government who the voters hold responsible. >> we've seen the mu slee before. it's just somg of them weren't around, i was. >> history is likely to repeat itself. 51% of americans say congressional republicans will be most to blame for a shutdown. 33% would blame president obama. with the world's biggest business operating without a budget since 2009, there's not much optimism on iert side. >> the debate was heated. you will matly, republican leaders remain defiant in their effort to bury obama care. here's some of the most compelling moments

obama care is a lightning rod. conservatives don't like obama care. republicans don't like obama care. lots of democrats, by the way, want to fix obama care because it's clearly not a perfect bill, but it has become the sort of organizing principle at this point for the republican party. the problem with what ted cruz is doing is that as dana pointed out earlier, he's asking republican senators to vote against the bill that would actually kill a bomb care. because the senate procedures are so difficult. so, he's putting everybody in a tough position. he's standing up for what he believe, but there are lots of republicans who believe that shutting down the government as a result of this fight is going to hurt their party and not help. >> we just saw that article by, you know, that karl rove of "the wall street journal," making that specific point. a warning to republicans out there, be really careful about shutting down the federal government because the political ramifications for republicans would be enormous. thanks very much. we're watching the rol

president obama today saying there's no surrender on obama care. look at the calendar, five days to go before new health care exchanges are set to open. president obama laid it on thick. campaign-style speech touting his signature health care law. and he got personal, slamming republicans trying to bring it down. here he was. >> in the wealthiest nation on earth, no one should go broke just because they get sick. the affordable care act is here to stay. so the first thing you need to know is this. if you already have health care, you don't have to do anything. in fact, for the past few years since i signed the affordable care act, a lot of you have been enjoying new benefits and protections that you didn't have before, even if you didn't know they were coming from obama care. because the affordable care act, more than 100 million americans have gotten free preventive care like mammograms and contraceptive care with no copays. because of the affordable care act, just this year, 8.5 million families actually got an average of $100 back from their ins

care in a negative way as a result of obama care. people who own businesses are rapidly converting many of their employees to part-time work instead of full-time, downsizing their businesses. this law should be named the unemployment and unaffordable act because that is the impact it's having on our economy. >> there are a lot of negatives but there are also positives connected with obama care. i'm just going to run these statistics by you. so the majority of americans don't approve of boobama care, that's true. but 70% of americans do not understand what obama care is, so they're for or against something they really don't understand. whose fault is that? >> well, the supporters of this have had three and a half years to explain it. and the problem is, it is so complex that it can't be explained. that's the difficulty with the implementation. but they're about to get a lesson -- >> but isn't it part of your job too, congressman, to make your constituents understand the bad and the good associated with this bill? >> i spend a part of

of obama care? does it mean messing with the kind of health care that members of congress and their staff get as part of obama care? those are some of the options they're discussing, but as we speak, senate democrats are having a press conference below me in the capitol saying don't even think about it, republicans. if you send us anything that is different than we just passed, anything that has an issue in it beyond funding the government, we're not going to do it. it's not only ping-pong, it's really more hot potato that ping-pong and the house isn't even going to come back in to have a meeting to talk about this, at least republicans, until noon tomorrow. >> brianna, i'm going to get to you in a second. one more question for you, dana. we saw that really interesti in interview with michele bachmann and wolf blitzer. how is that playing on capitol hill because it's not all republicans but some who are hard-liners like michele bachmann who feel the same way about the bill? how is that playing out?

or defunds obama care. that's out of here, that's off the table. forget about that. now, this proposal from house republicans to perhaps tinker with obama care, perhaps repeal that medical device tax that helps pay for obama care, that is not going to fly either with this white house. the president has said he is not going to do anything with obama care under the threat of a government shut down or a debt default and it's sort of ir irrelevant, because you heard what dana bash said a few moments ago, it's a nonstarter and dead on arrival in the senate. at this point the white house is sitting back and watching all of this dan pfeiffer, he's been on twitter all afternoon sort of responding to some of the news headlines coming out of the hill. and he said in one tweet, with respect to this proposal, that the house republicans are going to be taking up in a vote tonight, he said, quote, every smart goper is shedding a tear. the white house is trying to stay away from this and probably the reason the president

pay for obama care. i am now told by republican sources who are by the way inside the room right now getting briefed on their plan that there are two other things that are in it. one is to make sure that members of the military would still get paid if there is a shutdown. that's a huge, huge issue. as we have been reporting of consequences of a shutdown, men and women on the frontlines, their paychecks would stop and that's something that's a political and every other way a nonstarter, even for people who are in the republican party who say if the government shuts down, so what, so that's very interesting that that at least politically is in this measure it seems. and the other thing is that with the senate passed, would keep the government running 'til middle of november, this would take it to the middle of december. but this is a really important point for people to remember. once you started talking about adding anything to this, according to senate democrats, it would be a nonstarter, so whether it i

how bad they think obama care is. you know, you just had, i think today, home depot announce that they're basically going to quit paying for insurance for 20,000 part-time workers and they're going to dump them on the government's change. you had the cleveland clinic announce it's going to lay off 3,000 people in order to survive financially under obama care. we've had 301 different companies announce that they're going to put people on part-time work to avoid paying for their insurance. so there are a lot of things out there in the real world that don't exactly meet the president's vision of a government-run health system. the question is, is there some obligation on the part of the president and the senate democrats to negotiate with the elected leadership of the house. the president doesn't get to say, i have my four pet republicans and i can work with them. the overwhelming majority of the house republican congress, 230 votes, when they voted today, the overwhelming majority of the house republican congress has a

away funding for obama care. we've got jim acosta there live. jim, the president, he hasn't called speaker boehner in a week, according to the speaker's spokesman. at what point, what's the strategy at the white house at this point? >> reporter: unlike dana, i am not about to be run over at any moment, allison, that's because there isn't really anybody here except for a few lonely staff members and members of the media. nobody will cry a river over that. president obama is not at the white house now, he is playing golf over in virginia, and will be there for a good part of the afternoon. as you just mentioned, the president has not spoken with house speaker john boehner in about a week. we got that guidance last night. no word yet from white house officials whether or not any future calls or meetings are being scheduled or planned at this point. and essentially you asked about the strategy at the white house, allison. the strategy is they're watching to see what the congress does, and you heard the president sort

i believe we can and if we stand together we will defund obama care. >> until we defound obama care! >> reporter: cruz's supporters call all this determination. his gop detractors delusional. gop senator bob corker tweeted "i didn't have to harvard or princeton but i can count." part of cruz's problem is the senate runs on relationships and he doesn't have many. something he acknowledged with uncharacteristic humor. >> this fight is not about personalities. look, most americans could not give a flying flip about a bunch of pop tigss in washington. who cares? you know, almost all of us are in cheap shoots with bad haircuts. who cares? >> reporter: and carol before we toss to that piece i told you about, a darth vader moment on the senate floor you have an amazing team they were able to turn it around so let's play it for our viewers. >> i will confess that phrase a rebellion against oppression conjured up to me the rebel alliance fighting against the empire. the empire being the washington, d.c., establishment, and indeed immediately on hearing that phrase, i wondered if at some point

benefits of obama care. it is intellectually dishonest and speaks to what a gimmick they are engaged in. >> it almost seems like they have the self destruct button right next to them. do you want to comment on that? >> a very painful struggle going on within the republican party. i think it's important, that as a party, we learn to live with each other. even if we have diversity of thought and don't agree on every issue. i think the slash and burn tactic, that if you're not with me, we will take you out in a primary. that is not a healthy way to grow a party. we have to learn to live with each other. >> the reality is, ana, that small group, the tea party republicans, are in fact representing the majority. they want to defund obama care to shut the government down. >> what john boehner did this week was, frankly, i think a very smart move and very practical move in the sense that he called the bluff of folks like senator ted cruz. he said, okay, you guys on the senate, okay, hot shot -- >> sorry to interrupt